Nationality English Children Simon Relph, Emma Relph Parents George Relph | Role Film producer Name Michael Relph | |
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Full Name Michael Leighton George Relph Born 16 February 1915 ( 1915-02-16 ) Broadstone, Dorset, England Occupation Art director, film producer, film director, writer Died September 30, 2004, Selsey, United Kingdom Spouse Maria Barry (m. 1950–2003) Movies The Assassination Bureau, Victim, Woman of Straw, I Believe in You, The League of Gentlemen Similar People Basil Dearden, George Relph, Michael Balcon, Otto Heller, Stanley Mann | ||
Michael Relph - Producer
Michael Leighton George Relph (16 February 1915 – 30 September 2004) was an English film producer, art director, writer and film director. He was the son of actor George Relph.
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Films
Relph began his film career in 1933 as an assistant art director under Alfred Junge at Gaumont British then headed by Michael Balcon. In 1942 Relph began work at Ealing as chief art director, where his designs included the influential 1945 supernatural anthology Dead of Night.
He worked mainly on Basil Dearden's films, and in 1949 was nominated for an Academy Award for art direction for his work on the Stewart Granger vehicle Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948).
Theatre
Michael Relph also designed for the theatre, particularly the West End in the 1940s, from The Doctor's Dilemma and A Month in the Country, to Nap Hand and The Man Who Came to Dinner.
Producer
Later in his career, Relph worked as a producer. He served as associate producer on the Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949); and had a significant 20-year partnership with Basil Dearden beginning in 1949 and ending with Dearden's death in 1971. From 1972 to 1979, he was chairman of the British Film Institute's Production Board.
Family
His son, Simon Relph, was also a film producer and former chairman of BAFTA. His daughter, Emma Relph, had several parts on television and in the films as an actress during the 1980s. His stepson Mark Law is a former Fleet Street journalist and author of The Pyjama Game, A Journey Into Judo.